The tubular filter membranes or fibers are mounted in cylindrical housings, in the form of bundles contained in perforated sleeves with the ends of the bundles being potted in plates of resin. These housings are provided with lateral inlet or outlet orifices, and the free ends of the fibers lie flush with the plate in which they are potted to constitute the other outlet or inlet orifice, the assembly constituting a filter module. The housing of plastic material is constituted either as a one-piece molding or else it is built up from a plurality of molded sections, and it has the bundle and its sleeve mounted therein either by the potting plates being glued to the inside wall of the housing or else by potting the bundle and/or its sleeve directly inside the housing. In the past there have been no particular problems involved in installing the bundle in the housing since the bundles used have generally been of a diameter that does not exceed about 10 cm with the height of about 1 meter (m).
However, if it is desired to produce large quantities of filtered product by using large-sized bundles as obtained, for example, by interconnecting a plurality of elementary bundles at the potting plate, it becomes difficult to place the final bundle properly within the housing and keep it in place since the pressures exerted in operation can cause the connection between the potting plate and the housing to break in the long run.